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Four-month-old albatross at its colony at Campo Bosque, Punta Sur on Guadalupe Island. Credit: UNEP/Todd BrownNICE, Jun 13 (IPS) - At the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognized three countries and regions for their large-scale programs to restore their native ecosystems.
Mexico, Spain, and East Africa are the first three regions named as World Restoration Flagships. They have been recognized for their work tackling invasive species, pollution, and unsustainable exploitation. Altogether, these initiatives are restoring nearly five million hectares of marine ecosystems, which is nearly the size of Costa Rica, the co-host of UNOC3 along with France. They received the award on Thursday at a private event.
The World Restoration Flagships recognize national and regional ecosystem restoration efforts. This is part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration set for 2021-2030, co-led by UNEP and FAO. This programme aims to halt and reverse the degradation of global ecosystems. It is in line with the global commitment under the Paris Agreement to restore one billion hectares of ecosystems. Those recognized under this initiative receive additional UN support.
“After decades of taking the ocean for granted, we are witnessing a great shift towards restoration. But the challenge ahead of us is significant and we need everyone to play their part,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “These World Restoration Flagships show how biodiversity protection, climate action, and economic development are deeply interconnected. To deliver our restoration goals, our ambition must be as big as the ocean we must protect.”
Mafia Island, Tanzania. Sea turtle conservation with Sea Sense. Credit: UNEP / Duncan Moore“The climate crisis, unsustainable exploitation practices, and nature resources shrinking are affecting our blue ecosystems, harming marine life and threatening the livelihoods of dependent communities,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “These new World Restoration Flagships show that halting and reversing degradation is not only possible, but also beneficial to planet and people.”
In the Northern Mozambique Channel by East Africa, climate change and overfishing are threatening their coral reef systems, which account for 35 percent of the coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. At present, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Tanzania are working together to manage, protect, and restore over 87,000 hectares of interconnected land and seascapes.
Actions undertaken today to maintain it include restoration of blue and green forests through creating interconnected restoration corridors, mangroves, and coral reef ecosystems, and improving fisheries management. The mangroves in Madagascar store more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is comparable to the annual electricity use in over 62 million households in the United States. This restoration is expected to increase the capacity of the four countries involved to absorb carbon dioxide and help tackle climate change.
With enough funding, 4.85 million hectares could be restored by 2030, which would likely improve socio-economic development and community well-being by creating over 2000 jobs and 12 community-based enterprises that also integrate indigenous practices.
The Mexican islands have been contending with invasive species that threaten the region’s biodiversity, particularly the seabird populations. Restoration efforts led by government agencies and civil society groups have seen the removal of over 60 populations of invasive species and the return of at least 85 percent of the seabird populations. Continuing efforts would see over 100,000 hectares restored by 2030, encompassing over 100 islands and securing the populations of 300 endemic mammals, birds, and reptiles in the islands. The continued programme also provides support to local island communities, without whom the restoration efforts would be more challenging. Based on this success, Mexico plans to go forward with a national environmental restoration program aimed at revitalizing the country’s ecosystems.
Isabel Rubio (activist) and Ramon (activist) monitoring pollution of runoff water near the Mar Menor, Spain. Credit: UNEP/Todd Brown“Across Mexico's precious islands, tangible restoration actions and results are breathing new life into vital ecosystems, directly bolstering rich insular and marine biodiversity of global relevance, saving species, and weaving firm threads into the livelihoods of local communities,” said Dr. Marina Robles García, Undersecretary of Biodiversity and Environmental Restoration, Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT).
The Mar Menor lagoon in the southwest of Spain is Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, and its unique characteristics contribute to local tourism and a unique biodiversity. This has been threatened by nitrous discharge from agricultural activity, and other polluting land and marine activities, leading to the lagoon’s rapid degradation and significant losses in the fish population.
Through a citizen-led initiative, in 2022 Spain’s courtsgranted legal personhood to Mar Menor, the first ecosystem in Europe to be granted that status. A group of activists, scientists, and legal officials now represents the lagoon. Other actions include a government-led initiative to restore and recover Mar Menor through cleaning up abandoned and polluted mining sites, improving flood risk management and supporting sustainable agriculture, among other measures. This also includes a proposed green belt around the lagoon that is predicted to absorb more than 82,256 tons of CO? by 2040. Over 8700 hectares may be restored by 2030.
“Our work is grounded in listening, commitment, and innovation. We have listened to the Mar Menor and its people; participation drives the entire process, with a firm commitment to restoring this exceptional ecosystem and its values, with no possibility of turning back,” said Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen Muñoz. “We knew that our credibility as a society and the future of new generations were at stake. We could not let them down.”
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© Inter Press Service (2025) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service
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